Circadian Light Analysis—Design Tools to Support a New Lighting Design Paradigm

Lark Spectral Lighting, a collaboration between ZGF and the University of Washington, is a new plugin for Grasshopper that helps architects, lighting designers, and researchers investigate circadian light metrics within a daylighting workflow. Lark allows designers to define the color of skies, glazing, and building materials based on spectral data. Furthermore, luminance renderings and irradiance data can be used to analyze the relative impact of design options on the non-visual, circadian system. This open source tool enables architects to optimize lighting, materiality, and view based on human circadian response metrics for improved sleep, stress management, alertness and productivity.